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Topic: Japan (Read 1861 times)

The reactor thing is really frightening... I mean, on a level that transcends just what's going on in Japan.

BTW the text thing I keep seeing is text REDCROSS to 90999 I think it is, and you donate $10... Just incase anyone wants to. I think I'm going to tomorrow. I've sort of been leery to jump into the digital age of moving money about.

RE The Reactor Issue: No one should ever build anything so big and so dangerous that cannot be simply turned off. I don't understand why there is not a giant metaphorical extension cord they can't just pull out of the proverbial wall socket.

Yes, my knowledge of nuclear physics is astounding.

Seriously though, how safe is it to have a power source that you cannot control?

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Slice you open like a tauntaun, faster than the Autobahn, Or a motorbike in Tron, do the deed and then I'm gone.

The "off switch" is the cooling water. You can't just stop a nuclear reaction. This could be much, much worse. At this point, there has not been a failure of the reactor containment. Many of the building have been destroyed, but I don't think you build to withstand a 9.0 earthquake.

Missile silos in the U.S. are built to withstand them I thought? Maybe not though... I'd just think that a nuclear plant would be similarly built but I suppose there isn't really a prep you can do for something like that.

Missile silos in the U.S. are built to withstand them I thought? Maybe not though... I'd just think that a nuclear plant would be similarly built but I suppose there isn't really a prep you can do for something like that.

I heard it was more the tsunami than the quake. But who the hell knows.

Missile silos in the U.S. are built to withstand them I thought? Maybe not though... I'd just think that a nuclear plant would be similarly built but I suppose there isn't really a prep you can do for something like that.

They can handle quite a bit....but we also keep them away from major active fault lines.

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Peacekeeper, when it absolutely, positively has to be nuked in 30 minutes or less. Or the next nuke's free!

Missile silos in the U.S. are built to withstand them I thought? Maybe not though... I'd just think that a nuclear plant would be similarly built but I suppose there isn't really a prep you can do for something like that.

I heard it was more the tsunami than the quake. But who the hell knows.

It was the tsunamis that damaged the cooling systems.

But there are concerns that the Fukushima reactor design was not as safe as it should have been. This former GE engineer explains that because of those concerns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant he resigned his position. Newer reactor designs have cooling systems that do not rely as much on electrical power for water pumps and heat exchangers like those used at Fukushima. It's those systems that have failed because of damage from the tsunamis.

The bigger concern seems to be that the situation at Fukushima is getting so much worse that workers at the site are being pulled out because of the radiation danger. Without those personnel in place to keep actively working at cooling down the reactors this crisis could approach proportions close to that of the Chernobyl disaster.

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